North Trail 26rk - How to carry bikes?

Ron24

Member
I am looking at purchasing a North Trail 26rk and was making sure it is a good unit. It looks like it will serve my purpose very well and the quality seems to be there. The problem that I have is that we want to cart around 4 mountain bikes, on the trailer, or potentially 2 kayaks with 4 mountain bikes on a trailer. I would like to put a receiver hitch on the rear of the trailer like I have seen on many trailers but they say it will void the warrenty. I was wondering if anyone has this style of trailer and if they have put a hitch on it and any problems associated with it. I realize that you have to use some type of smarts and limit to what you pull but I would think pulling a 3000 lb trailer should not hurt, should have only 300 lbs tounge weight. People in Alberta pull 2 quads or a boat all the time with much larger trailers then the 26rk. Let me know

Ron
 

Nell

Active Member
Well I'm not really sure if you're asking for suggestions on carrying bikes or opinions on attaching a trailer to your trailer. The latter I personally wouldn't consider but I know people do.
We had an issue with transporting 5 bikes as we have one of those super looking moulded,color coded bumpers that have zippo utility (i'm not complaining - I love the look of the bumper) What we do - and it works well for us, is collapse the booth dinnette and then four of the bikes sit in the cradle of the dinnette - two upside down, two right way up - interlocked, secured with bunges and my husband attached small tie downs to the wood under the seating that really enables you to secure everything. Trailer is protected from dirt by placing a big tarp down first, then wrapping when the bikes are secured. The other bike gets laid on a towell on the queen bed - voila! :)
 

truknutt

Committed Member
I am looking at purchasing a North Trail 26rk and was making sure it is a good unit. It looks like it will serve my purpose very well and the quality seems to be there. The problem that I have is that we want to cart around 4 mountain bikes, on the trailer, or potentially 2 kayaks with 4 mountain bikes on a trailer. I would like to put a receiver hitch on the rear of the trailer like I have seen on many trailers but they say it will void the warrenty. I was wondering if anyone has this style of trailer and if they have put a hitch on it and any problems associated with it. I realize that you have to use some type of smarts and limit to what you pull but I would think pulling a 3000 lb trailer should not hurt, should have only 300 lbs tounge weight. People in Alberta pull 2 quads or a boat all the time with much larger trailers then the 26rk. Let me know

Ron

What do you plan to tow the trailer with? Pickup without a cap? Bikes ride in the back of the truck while kayaks ride up above on racks..now you have all the toys...unless there is another piece of this puzzle you haven't told us...:rolleyes: You sly devil you!! :D
 

Ron24

Member
The 26rk is a 5th wheel. I use the front of the box for storage. Kayaks don't balance very well on the roof of the truck. I want to put the Kayaks and bikes on a small trailer.
 

caissiel

Senior Member
I had a lower roof 5th wheel (10' 6") and for 6 years we carried our Kayaks on the roof, one on each side of the A/C. One was an Oldtown 16ft tandom, and the other was a 8'6" wave runner sit on unit. The bike rack sat on the rear. The same basic setup was for the truck and the roof of the trailer.
If you have a bar or a roller at the rear of the trailer it can be raised quit well, as easily as on the roof of the truck. We must done 50K miles with that setup with one strap only getting loose once, so we doubled the straps front and back. Our unit now is to high for the roof mount so now we might just go with 2 singles on the roof of the truck. The car will possibly be the 2nd choice, looking to design a rack that can suit both.
 

truknutt

Committed Member
The 26rk is a 5th wheel. I use the front of the box for storage. Kayaks don't balance very well on the roof of the truck. I want to put the Kayaks and bikes on a small trailer.


My bad. I saw the 26RKS tag-along and ***-umed that was the one.

Freckles (NY Chapter Leader) has a nice over the cab rack for his kayaks.

Here's the SportRack 4 bike system if you had a front receiver on your truck. Just hate to see a cargo trailer behind another travel trailer.
 

caissiel

Senior Member
I had to put my bike rack in front of the truck once this was with the 98 GM, I felt the vibration of the bikes on the drive wheels. so I installed it on the truck hitch, with the handle bars removed, The 5th wheel, had lots of room between the bumper and the front wall.
 

currituck0209

Well-known member
I was a chesepeake RV Solutions yesterday, Some of the new models, northtrail, north country (optional) went back to the square bumper that pulls out an creates a storage platform. It looked like it pulled out approx 3'
 
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